Chapter VII.

St. Ambrose, addressing Christ, complains of the
Novatians, and shows that they have no part with Christ, Who wishes all
men to be saved.

30. So, then, Lord
Jesus, come wholly to Thy Church, since Novatian makes excuse.
Novatian says, “I have bought a yoke of oxen,” and he puts
not on the light yoke of Christ, but lays upon his shoulders a heavy
burden which he is not able to bear. Novatian held back Thy
servants by whom he was invited, treated them contemptuously and slew
them, polluting them with the stain of a reiterated baptism. Send
forth, therefore, into the highways, and gather together good and
bad,29492949 S. Luke xiv. 21. bring the weak, the blind, and the lame
into Thy Church. Command that Thy house be filled, bring in all
unto Thy supper, for Thou wilt make him whom Thou shalt call worthy, if
he follow Thee. He indeed is rejected who has not the wedding
garment, that is, the vestment of charity, the veil of grace.
Send forth I pray Thee to all.

31. Thy Church does not excuse herself from
Thy supper, Novatian makes excuse. Thy family says not, “I
am whole, I need not the physician,” but it says:
“Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be
saved.”29502950Jerem. xvii. 14. The likeness
of Thy Church is that woman who went behind and touched the hem of Thy
garment, saying within herself: “If I do but touch His
garment I shall be whole.”29512951 S. Matt. ix. 21. So the
Church confesses her wounds, but desires to be healed.

32. And Thou indeed, O Lord, desirest that
all should be healed, but all do not wish to be healed. Novatian
wishes not, who thinks that he is whole. Thou, O Lord, sayest
that Thou art sick, and feelest our infirmity in the least of us,
saying: “I was sick and ye visited Me.”29522952 S. Matt. xxv. 36. Novatian does not visit that least
one in whom Thou desirest to be visited. Thou saidst to Peter
when he excused himself from having his feet washed by Thee:
“If I wash not thy feet, thou wilt have no part with
Me.”29532953 S. John xiii. 8. What
fellowship, then, can they have with Thee, who receive not the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, saying that they ought not to remit
sins?

33. And this confession is indeed rightly
made by them, for they have not the succession of Peter, who hold not
the chair of Peter, which they rend by wicked schism; and this, too,
they do, wickedly denying that sins can be forgiven even in the Church,
whereas it was said to Peter: “I will give unto thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth
shall be loosed also in heaven.”29542954 S. Matt. xvi. 19. And the vessel of divine election
himself said: “If ye have forgiven anything to any one, I
forgive also, for what I have forgiven I have done it for your sakes in
the person of Christ.”295529552 Cor. ii. 10. Why, then,
do they read Paul’s writings, if they think that he has erred so
wickedly as to claim for himself the right of his Lord? But he
claimed what he had re335ceived, he did not usurp that which was not due
to him.